WJAR Upgrades Grass Valley's Ignite System

As part of a move to HD newscasts, WJAR, the Media General owned NBC affiliate serving Providence, R.I. and New Bedford, Mass. markets, has upgraded its standard-definition Grass Valley Ignite automated production system to full high-definition (HD) capability.

The upgrade includes the addition of a third M/E channel to the Ignite system's Grass Valley Kayak HD switcher and is part of an HD upgrade that included the installation of a new on-air news set.

"After nearly two years in operation, Ignite has turned out to be everything we thought it could be and more," said Joe Doris, operations manager at WJAR. "It's been very reliable and has helped us launch new programs that we probably would not have without the automated capabilities of our Ignite system. With our move to HD news, upgrading the Ignite was the next logical step for us."

The Ignite system allows a single operator at WJAR to produce its daily newscasts in HD using the Grass Valley Ignite HD system with robotically controlled HD cameras. That has allowed the station to "produce cleaner, crisper newscasts while enabling WJAR to commit additional resources to field news gathering," said Chris Lanni, news director at WJAR. "As a result, our expanded news gathering capabilities have also expanded the station's dominance in the market."